These questions aren’t answered only by the player but also the caddie. Ultimately, it’s the player who will be looking at this metal wood at address and starting the backswing, but the caddie, if experienced, already will know the course and any changes that may have been made. Simultaneously, the coach, if well versed in equipment and how to process feedback, also will be an asset in finding a solution before, during or post testing.
Last but certainly not least, taking on board historic data from the player is also key, along the lines of these kinds of nuggets:
—“This 3-wood I had in high school was amazing.”
—“I’ve always played a 2 iron.”
—“This shaft was my favorite, but didn’t work in my driver.”
—“I hit his club, and…”
The foreword is complete! Now, we’re ready to look at “real time” decisions and strategy.
I. What role(s) will this club play?
1. Tee club
2. Short/tight course
3. Right to left tee club for a player who cuts driver
4. Par-5 club
5. 50/50: Great launch off the deck with a drawing pattern off the tee/layup yardage
6. Par-3 club
7. 3 iron/UT replacement?
8. Hybrid replacement?
II. What characteristics/aesthetics are important?
1. Deep face
2. Shallow face
3. Smaller head
4. Contrast of top line to body
5. Scoring lines
—Full scoring lines
—Sharpie the scoring lines to hide the loft that we have decided on while making said head look open at address
6. Face angle
—“I want to see loft”
—“Please filet that open”
—”I need it to be Square”
7. Lie angle
—Flat (Start Right)
—Up (Start Left)
—Love everything else upright, but if it looks flatter it will be easier to hit a cut into par 5s and I can turn anything over.
—I struggle so much with metal woods when they match my iron lie. If it looks upright/flat, it will trick my mind into playing the shot called for IE player reacting
8. Aiming icon
—I need that thing on top to feel where middle is
—Clean slate
III. What shaft is going to best satisfy all the needs?
1. Weight
—Typically a touch heavier than the driver shaft, but nothing suggests that this common assertion is best.
—In more lofted cases, we reference the UT iron (if played), iron shafts, swing mechanics and pair these with the dynamics of the head
2. Handle feel
—The stiffness, or lack thereof, of a handle can match up to a player’s feel, whilst providing the performance needed
—What seems to be the feel that the player likes in the iron shafts he plays
3. Mid section
—Do we want something uber stable in the middle to mitigate drooping and deflection on the vertical plane
—Do we want to cause drooping to center hit location based on CG of head
4. Tip feel
—Active tip for added spin and ball speed
—Stable tip to match iron feel
—Goldilocks tip to make club a reliable unicorn
5. Tip-to-butt relationship
—Do we want a shaft that launches, but doesn’t spin too much
6. Historic data
—Reference above
7. Swing Pattern similarities
—Every swing is a snowflake, but the striking resemblances of swing patterns allow the fitter to recall what has worked for others and possibly add this to the matrix for testing
8. Player Input: “I use this one in my driver, could you build me a 3 wood with this shaft?”
—OK
—This could work
—The driver swing is drastically different than the metal wood swing
—You’re asking to draw this 3 wood, but you hit beautiful cuts with driver
—You want this to land on the green like a butterfly with sore feet, but your driver goes knee high to a grasshopper
9. Length: Most important piece here is how far do you want this to go?
Fitting case study: Xander Schauffele
Xander plays what some call a “high lofted 3-wood” and others call a “4-wood.” This was an adjustment we made a few years ago as he continued to get faster. The 4-wood fits him perfectly because a traditional 3-wood is too fast (175+ ball speed) and doesn’t launch nearly high enough for him. So we have to add speed limitations in his build, which you will see below.
Xander’s common denominator in his swing: a huge pull of the shaft handle while maintaining a stable face. He can move the ball either way with the whole bag, but again, his 4-wood has its roles.
What Xander needed
1. We need a club that can be hit off the tee most places with cut or draw and a great spin number
2. We need this club to be used off the ground on “go for it” par-5s where the statistics say “push it closer to the green” with a great launch and spin number to hold firm greens
3. We like a clean slate on the top with a bit deeper face IE Triple Diamond
4. We like the ease of the cut with this club, so we love a slightly open face angle
5. We’re flat (lie angle) across the board in most cases as well as weaker in loft
6. We’re still fast…with everything
7. We’re going to go heavier shaft wise to slow the ball speed down, we don’t want this club to compete with his driver
Where we landed
1. Elyte Triple Diamond 3 HL 16.5
Callaway Elyte Triple Diamond Custom Fairway Wood
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2. He loves the Mitsubishi Diamana PD in his driver so we just crank up the weight to SLOW it down
3. Weaker handle allows him to pull that shaft through impact without fear of it catching up and shutting down the face
4. Let’s go a touch shorter than standard length to mitigate distance and spin, he’s going to be down in attack on this so shorter will feel more connected
5. He likes a touch the lie flatter….let’s go a touch flatter, if hit location goes toe-ward, we can dial that back
6. In Triple Diamond, we have a lower spinning head with a touch of open clubface at impact. If need be, we subtract some of the sole weight and add it internally in the back to promote face closure
7. We’re going to sort for our highest lofted 3HL and then bend a degree strong leaving us around 15.5 ish loft
8. We maintain loft with an open clubface
Notes from Xander’s testing process
1. First shot – great starting line, great pattern downrange; sound is off so we add 2 grams of internal glue (hot melt) dead center on crown, anything on the crown will dampen sound
2. Second shot – great start, great pattern, better sound
3. Questions from Xander:
—”Major season is in our sights so it has to be perfect — is it? What do we know now that we didn’t before?”
—”Can we create an option that is better off the tee and do we really need a ‘par-5 club?'”
—“What do you think about a mini driver?” “You know better than me. Cook something up?”
—“This mini is pretty nice, but a small cut is a touch difficult.”
—“If we’re going to try the mini, can you build me a stronger UW to get closer in gapping?
—“There is too much manipulation that needs to happen to make this Mini work. Can we do a stronger TD?”
To finish, I build a “normal” 3-wood at “normal” 3-wood length for his tee-priority option, add another “weapon to the arsenal” but my player is ready to tackle any ball park on TOUR and I can rest easy. Now in the travel bag his fairway strategy looks like this. When the 3-wood goes in, a 21 (19.5 actual) degree UW goes in. When the 4-wood goes in, a 23 (20.7 actual) UW goes in. It’s all course dependent but at the end of the day he’s prepared, always.
Xander’s gamer fairway wood specs
3-wood: Elyte TD 15 (14.4, 57 lie)
Shaft: MCA Diamana PD 80TX (42.5 EOG, D1.7, Tipped 1.5)
4-wood: Elyte TD 16.5 HL (14.7, 57 lie)
Shaft: MCA Diamana PD 80TX (42.5 EOG, D1.7, Tipped 1.5)
Callaway Elyte Triple Diamond Custom Fairway Wood
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Apex UW 21 (19.7, 57.3)
Shaft: MCA Diamana D+ 90TX (40.75 EOG, D3, Tipped 1.5)
Apex UW 23 (20.7, 57.3)
Shaft: MCA Diamana D+ 90TX (40.75 EOG, D3, Tipped 1.5)
To find the perfect fairway woods for your game, consult a fitter at your local True Spec Golf.
